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Here There Be Monsters
Smoke, smoke was all Rohen could see. Their ship had been hit by a missile from the damned humans as they were heading to the gravity lift. “Get up!” came the voice of the Ultra leading his lance. Above him, Rohen could hear the vague sounds of footsteps interspersed with heavy metallic bangs. “W-what’s, that” came the panicked voice of the Unggoy. “Humans,” the Ultra replied with a disgusted growl. Rohen scrambled to his feet as a massive metallic bang boomed ahead, he grabbed his carbine as the smoke ahead of them cleared, but before it could a massive barrage of bullets tore through the smoke, flashes of gunfire obscured. Rohen lunged for cover and looked to the Major for orders... ...only to see his body mangled beyond reason, the grunts around him suffering the same. He tried to scramble down the side hall, but as soon as he moved bullets came again. One finding a home in his leg, causing him to roar in pain and crumple to the floor. Behind him he could hear the heavy footsteps of the beast, lumbering around as it gave off an odd sound, almost-words. Looking around, he spotted a maintenance door Yanme’e used for maintenance. Pulling himself up, he stumbled towards the panel, removed it and squeezed himself inside. However, he inadvertently caught his injured leg on the edge causing him to cry out. There was silence. Until the stomping came again. He scrambled to replace the panel as the footfalls neared; he only managed to jam into the wrong position. Having done all he could, he recoiled away from the panel and back into the hall as he could see the figure through the gaps, a beast clad in armor, rivaling a Mgalekgolo in size. He held his mandibles shut with his left hand and used his right to slowly drag himself away quietly as he muffled his growls. As he moved he heard more odd sounds the behemoth’s metal hand jostled the panel before going still. A violent twisting noise echoed as Roen turned a corner, ringing through the tunnels. In the low light he barely made out the shadow of a head peering inward. He came to a stop as he heard what could almost be described as a growl coming from the hall before the footsteps started once again, getting quieter and quieter. Rohen slid to the floor, trying to ease his hysteria and fear of whatever that thing was, but the distant cries of death and gunfire would not allow it. Calming his nerves, if only for a few seconds, he decided to try the Hangar, the weapons and troops inside must have held out against those things. But as soon as he tried to stand, he fell, looking to his leg, he spotted the continually bleeding wound, looking further towards his pistol, he had no choice. As the howls and snaps of a brute being slaughtered with unholy force, rang through the halls, so too did the cries of agony from Rohen as he used the plasma to burn his wound shut. Each agonizing minute wreaked havoc on Rohen’s mind as he neared the hangar, the cries getting louder as he neared and his instincts telling him to run. As he passed the junction before the door he was sent to the ground as something massive collided with one of the panels next to him denting it and allowing him to see outside. He could see a Mgalekgolo pair, but looking closer he noticed that in fact one of them had lost massive sections of its body, its pairmate stumbling to its feet as it let out a roar of anger and banged its shield and weapon together. What he did not expect was a similar but deeper and more mechanical voice erupt from ahead of him, shifting his position he spotted one of the behemoths, covered in Lekgolo blood.. The Hunter charged the beast and swung its shield at it, but much to its surprise, the beast managed to stop it. Using both its arms to hold it and legs to push it back, the beast let loose a series of clang’s before drawing its left arm back and taking hold of its weapon. Before Rohen could get a better look, the weapons fired a barrage of bullets as the Mgalekgolo cried out in pain, pushing itself off the beast only to find that it hadn’t let go. Taking its shield, the beast pulled the hunter back and drove its fist into the worms repeatedly, each impact throwing dead worms and blood on the wall behind. As the hunters strength faded, the beast ripped the massive shield off its arm and drove it straight into the remaining worms, killing the hunter once and for all. Rohen had gone pale at the strength and violence of the beasts, not showing any remorse and almost seeming to enjoy the killing. His minor movement towards the hangar was stopped as he looked towards the door... ...Brutes... ...Unggoy... ...Sangheili... Corpses by the dozen were piled, blocking the door as they rotted and their stench permeated the air. The closer Rohen looked the worse it became, there were no bullets or burns, but rather broken bones, crushed skulls and even heads, torn off their bodies. He began to move back, his mind unaware of what his body did until he collided with the bent metal of the panel. Jumping at the touch he looked out in panic, noticing the beast was preoccupied with the corpses. As soon as it was far enough, Rohen dragged himself, trying to stay silent and praying to the Gods that he would be spared such a fate. Ignoring the cries of death around him, the sounds having been burned into his brain along with the putrid smell. As he eventually stumbled to a stop, his scrambling through the hot and dank ducts left him tired and aching. Within what he could guess was an hour, those beasts had taken the ship apart, killing any they came across without the slightest bit of hesitation, taking down all the comm- “The Bridge...” He looked and listened in case any of the beasts were near before moving as fast as his injured leg would allow him. If he could get to a bridge he could activate the distress beacon and alert the rest of the Fleet, the Shipmaster wouldn’t have let the ship fall prey to these, things. In minutes he arrived at the door to the Bridge. To his shock there was no blood, the halls were as clean as ever, and it even seemed that the smell permeating the rest of the ship seemed to fade away from the haven on the other side of the doors. Rohen shook the panel in front of him free and stumbled out into the hall, taking some liberating breaths as the doors to the bridge slid open… ...to reveal a massacre. The crew had been slaughtered, their bodies strewn about with bullet holes and scorch marks having desecrated them. Rohen was at a loss, his only chance to warn the fleet, to ask them for help, was gone. But as his eyes drifted, he saw them, two stood on the control platform, one tampering with the ship while the other scanned for survivors. Rohen’s mouth gasped repeatedly as his will shattered, he took a step back. Then another. And another. But turned to come face to face with a wall of metal. Before he could react, the beast had him by the throat, choking the life out of him, lifting him up to its height as if he was nothing. But as looked into its face, he knew, this was no man. Rohen felt his vision going dark, but a roar broke through the darkness as the Shipmaster charged out and stabbed the beast in its side. He felt the hand stop, followed by it dropping him on the floor as he gasped for breath. He saw the Shipmaster who grinned in satisfaction having felled whatever these were. But it was short lived. The beast turned slowly and methodically, sword in its side as it came to face the Shipmaster. Before he could run it had grabbed his helmet and dug its fingers in as the Shipmaster tried and failed to escape, crying out in pain as the second hand came and joined the first. In one fell snap did both his helmet and head break apart, his corpse falling to the floor as the beast removed the sword without a care. Rohen’s instincts cried out to run, but his body was paralyzed with fear as the thing looked down at him. He wanted to run, to try and survive, but he was spent. Casting one last look out the window did he see the other cruisers going down in flames before turning back to a raised metal boot. The last life on the ship, had been stamped out.